SPRINGDALE, Ark. — While Valentine's Day can be filled with gifts and romance to celebrate love, for some it can feel pretty lonely.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, last year between Feb. 1 and Feb. 13, almost 33% of Arkansans reported feeling depressed, anxious, or both.
Becca Ferguson with The Therapy Office in Springdale said she thinks this is because many people feel unheard.
"People are not listening to each other and are not understanding how to listen to each other," she said. "It's a big part of it. Once we learn how to listen to each other, and then want to engage in conversation, then we actually hear each other's stories."
Ferguson said it's essential to find community amongst things you value to feel less lonely. However, she said many tend to focus too much on giving and receiving love through a partner or friends, and not enough on the love you must provide to yourself first.
"You can find yourself in relationships, and out of relationships. You can love yourself in relationships, and out of relationships," she exclaims. "And the most critical part of this is understanding that you are important. You don't need to have validation from someone else in order to feel importance."
Ferguson encourages those of you who are spending this Valentine's by yourself to treat it just as special as you would with that special someone. This goes for every day—not just on Valentine's Day.
Ferguson said she spent nine months dating herself before she began dating her husband.
"I took myself out to the movies, I took myself out to eat, I tried different restaurants, different genres of movies, different games, that I could go to all these different things," she said. "And I realized what I really like and what I don't like."
The Therapy Office advocates that self-love and community are the keys to curing a loneliness epidemic.
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.